Demons of the Hidden Leaf
by Darcaine
Summary: Found in a land of snow, how will one boy fit into the lives of the ninja.


**This is a general disclaimer for the entire story. Meaning, I will not continue to write this over and over because that would take up space for the story. I do NOT own Naruto or any other anime/manga that might be portrayed in this story. That being said, here is the story.**

* * *

The wind howled as the snow began to pile up. The drifts as tall as fifteen feet made the terrain look much like a massive desert. The temperature was easily under freezing and almost to the point of deadly. The trees swayed in the increasing wind as limbs froze and accumulated snow as well. Ice formed along the bottoms of the tree limbs and caused the limbs to crack and fall off. This in turn caused several drifts of snow to scatter for a while until they simply bult back up around the trees. No plant or wildlife other than the bare trees could be seen from miles around.

The day had turned to night and the night had turned to deadly. The temperature dropped to well below freezing and anything that was caught out in this storm was killed or simply frozen. The blizzard ravaged the land without any telling signs of when it would stop. The wind began to pick up again and howled in fury at anything that withstood its terrible might. That would, unfortunately include the dozen or so people walking out in the storm.

These people were all dressed in heavy wool clothing. Several of them were short, but a couple were tall. All of them dressed for the weather except one. This one was a young boy who walk along in between the people. He was completely naked and by all rights should be dead. The fact that he wasn't was a great miracle to the world and these people. Oh, they suspected what he was, but until then, they had their doubts. The boy, however, knew what he was. He knew everything about who he was because he had been told constantly by the woman who gave him birth.

The boy stood at a little over 160 centimeters and weighed no more than 38 kilograms. To say that he was tall and underfed for his age would be a massive understatement. He had short brown hair and his eyes were a dull blue. If one would look into his eyes, they would say that he lost all will to fight for life. He walked along, ignoring the glares of hatred from the other next to him. In front of him walked the woman who gave birth to him and the man who helped. The boy looked around at the frozen terrain only to be hit in the side of the head by the person behind him. He kept his eyes forward and down, ignoring whatever the person had said. It didn't take much to ignore the others. The wind took care of any sounds the other had possibly made.

There were a total of sixteen people in the group that were transporting the boy somewhere. He had no idea where they were going, only that he was going to finally be left alone. If he only knew why he was being treated this way then he would have an even easier time accepting it. Even though he was surrounded by people, he was still thankful for the solitude that they provided.

The head of the group came to a stop at a cave in the side of a cliff. The boy stared at the entrance, it was like a giant mouth waiting to eat them. The person behind the boy pushed him forward and he stumbled and fell to the ground. A couple of people hauled him to his feet and dragged him into the cave. They threw him unceremoniously to the ground and stood back with the others. The boy stared at them with a dull blank look on his face, awaiting what came next.

"You know what you are. You know why you are here," the woman who gave birth to him said as she stepped forward. She glared at him before turning back to the others. "If any deem it nessecary, come forth and slay the creature. Otherwise, it will die soon enough." With that, she walked back to the group. A man stepped forward. It was the woman's husband. He, too, glared at the boy.

"You are an abomination. You are not deserving of life. You are a creature of pure evil. You are the incarnation of the demon Apollyn. However, you have sprung forth from my wife and I and I will not kill you. None here will kill you. We will leave you to rot and reflect on your own evil. It is here you shall die, demon." The man turned and walked away and out of the cave without another word. The boy's eyes followed him out, but he said nothing and thought nothing. The other turned to go, but the woman who gave birth to him turned back.

"If left alive, you will bring great ruin to our clan. Our clan is better off without you, demon, and the world is much better without you inhabiting it." The woman stode out of the cave and left without saying a word. The boy's eyes followed them until the swirling white storm swallowed them up. He sat with his back against the wall and broiught his knees up to his chest. He put his arms on his knees and rested his chin on his arms. That was when he began to finally realize what they said. That he was the demon Apollyn. His blank eyes stared at the ground until he finally went to sleep.

* * *

"Kiba-sensei! Why do we have to go through this place again?" A brown haired child complained. Kiba looked at him and sighed. It was one thing when one person complains, but even Akamaru was complaining. It was snowing heavily and had been for several weeks. At least that's what they were told in the last town they visited. Kiba looked around has his genin squad. They were fresh out of the academy and this was they first mission outside the fire country. The kid who was talking had long brown hair and green eyes. He stood at roughly 155 centimeters tall and weighed about 45 kilograms. He still had a little baby fat left, but plenty of muscle. His name was Yatanuka Katou. He was always complaining and was the one who even got them this mission.

"Katou-kun, this is the fastest route to take. You know that," a girl to his left stated. She had long black hair and blue eyes. She was 154 centimeters tall and weighed 40 kilograms. _What is it with girls these days and dieting?_Kiba thought as he listened to them. Her name was Hikaru Kana. It was amazing that they could even hear each other during the storm. Due to his enhanced hearing, Kiba was developing a rather large headache. He sighed again. At least one of his students was quiet, he'd give him that.

Kiba's last student was a tall genin with brown hair and red eyes. He stood at 158 centimeters tall and 46 kilograms. He sighed at the same time as Kiba. His name was Yuhi Asuma, named after his father. He watched his two teammates interact, barely noticing what was going on around them. _Kid took on his master's attitude. He acts just like Shikamaru,_ Kiba thought as they walked over a snowdrift.

The week before, Kiba had taught them the tree climbing exercise. They were using that and applying it to walking over the snow. It had taken them a while to figure it out, mainly because trees are harder and heavier than snow, but they finally got the hang of it. Kiba looked to Akamaru who in turned looked to his right. Kiba squinted and saw a care witht he entrance almost covered by snow about one hundred meters from them. He was amazed that he could see it, but it was only because it was still daylight, but was quickly diminishing to darkness. Kiba scowled as he called a halt to their progress.

"Alright, since it's gettin' dark, I figure we might as well find shelter. Akamaru found a cave not far from here where we can take cover 'til the morning. All in favor of not freezing to death?" Kiba grinned as they all raised their hands. "Well then, follow me!" He took off running and turned back just in time to see all three of his genin fall face first into a snow drift. He stopped and laughed as they crawled upright and began to walk after him with murder in their eyes. As tempted as Kiba was to throw a snowball, or three, he was going to have to wait. "Alright, come on. The sooner we get out of this storm, the sooner we can dry off and warm up."

The genin hurried as fast as they dared toward the cave, watching the back of their sensei the whole time.

* * *

The boy was lying on the floor. His stomach stopped growling a while ago. He knew he was close to starving to death, but he didn't care. The snow had been piling up outside of the cave, making it near to impossible for the boy to go outside. He knew from simple logic and observing the land on the way there that there was nothing outside the cave for him anyway. He was expend more energy by moving around and thus would die sooner. The boy didn't mind dying, it meant an end to what he had been experiencing. He was grateful for the people's generocity toward him. They didn't kill him right away when he wasn't prepared. They left him to die on his own. That had given him a week to prepare, but all he needed was a day. He was simply lying down to die now.

The boy realized in the time he had been in this cave that he had some sort of power that cancelled the cold in his bones. He felt the cold, but it didn't affect him at all. While he found this amusing, it also made him wonder what else he could do. He had begun to experiment during the week and found that if he concentrated really hard, he would get a headache. For some reason, he would also push something away, like he did the first mound of snow that piled up in front of the cave. He figured this to a side effect of the headache, but opted not to use it anymore. If he could die with no pain other than hunger and thirst, then he would be fine.

The bot sat up when he heard some noises outside of the cave. He stood when he saw something approaching the cave. Thinking it to be the people coming back, the boy ran to the back of the cave, into the darkness that concealed him. He didn't want to die at their hands. He wanted to die on his own terms. His dull eyes watch the entrance, expecting people to come barging in, all he heard was someone talking.

"Yeah I know, I can smell it too, buddy," A voice said. The boy thought this voice had meant him and assumed it was the people talking about him again. They still thought he was the demon they had hated so much. The voice continued, only louder, "Whatever is in there, we come in peace," a few giggles from behind the object alerted the boy to some form af prank going on. "Shut up, there's something in there and we need to show it that we mean no harm. We just need to get out of the weather for a while," the voice said. The boy cautiously stepped forward a little and raised his hand. He was going to get a headache from this, but he didn't mind so much anymore. He blasted the snow out from the front fo the cave and all over the people outside of it. He heard much cursing as the people ran into the cave, knives out and poised to attack.

The boy frantically hurried back to the darkness and waited to find out what they were. He realized they weren't the people from the clan when a big dog bounded past them and stood in front fo the boy, growling lowly in its throat. The dog was easily larger than the boy and even large that the tallest there.

"Hey, Akamaru! Get back here!" The voice from the tall one said as he walked forward. The boy held his hand out in front fo him and prepared to push the person and dog back. The man continued to talk, "Whoever you are, we only need to use the cave for a little bit. We'll be on our way soon." The boy stood still as the dog backed up. He began to speak in a slow considerate tone that reflected no emotion.

"You may stay... as long as you don't disturb me..." The boy's voice was hoarse with disuse. The tall man nodded and took off his pack. He took out something with an aroma similar to meat and slid it across the floor to the boy.

"Take it. It's my gift to you for letting us stay in your cave. My name is Kiba. My friend here is Akamaru. Those kids behind me are Yatanuka Matou, Hikaru Kana, and Yuhi Asuma. They wont bother you and neither will I." Kiba turned back to the genin and pulled out some wood from his pack. He had been collecting it along the way, but most of it was frozen. He figured that a simple fire jutsu could take care of that. As he began to set up the fire, the boy stared at the parcel of meat on the ground. Noone had ever given him anything. They had only taken from him. A blast from in front of him caught his attention as he fell back against the wall and hugged his knees to his chest. He could see the people clearly and was surprised by how different they looked than the other people.

The jutsu caught the wood on fire, so now the boy was able to see them. He saw that beside the man and dog was two boys and a girl, all roughly his age. They sat down at the fire and the girl was the firs tto look over toward him. For some reason the boy didn't understand, her face turned a deep shade of red before she screamed out. Her screamed echoed int he cave, causing the man and dog to groan. The girl had finally fainted before the boys caught on and looked over to the boy at the back of the cave. They looked from the boy to the girl and then began to laugh loudly. The one known as Kiba looked at the boy before sighing and taking a blanket out of his pack. He threw the blanket to the boy.

"You might want to cover up. That girl isn't used to seeing a naked boy," Kiba flinched the moment he heard what he had just said. The other two boys fell over grabbing their sides, laughing loudly. Tears formed in their eyes and flowed freely down their cheeks. The boy a tthe back of the cave picked up the parcel of meat and the blanket and wrapped the blanket around himself. He stared at Kiba with blank eyes completely void of emotion. Kiba flinched and looked away toward the girl, who was just now beginning to come around due to the loud laughter coming from the two others. She looked around and set her eyes on the boy befor elooking back toward the fire, her face red with embarrassment.

"Well, while we wait for the other two to calm down," Kiba said, shooting a glare at the two genin who just wouldn't shut up, "Why don't you com over here and tell us who you are?" The boy shook his head and held his hand out in front of him. His palm was facing Kiba.

"You said... you wouldn't disturb me," he said, his palm glowling a grayish blue. His hollow eyes also began to glow. Kiba turned fully toward the boy and smirked.

"I did say that, however, I just want to know your name and why you are out here in the middle of a blizzard, completely naked," Kiba said. As he finished, the girl made a sound that sounded like a tiny yelp, which sent the boys into further bouts of histeria. The boy looked around at them, his eyes settling on the girl. She glanced back at him and he noticed her cheeks growing red. The boy gazed at Kiba, comtemplating how much he shuld say.

"My name?" The boy considered this for a while, then finally made up his mind, "Call me Apollyn... I am here to die." This last part caused Kiba's eyes to widen in shock and the boys stopped laughing. The girl looked back at Apollyn with a new look in her eyes. It was a look of pity, or so Apollyn assumed.

"Die? Is that why you were naked out here? Do you want to die?" Kiba asked cautiously. He knew that if he asked too much, the boy, Apollyn, would clam up and not speak again. He could see the distrust in the boy's eyes.

"No... I do not wish to die," Apollyn said slowly, his words lacking any hint of emotion. Kiba suspected if someone were to come up to hit him, the boy wouldn't show anger, he would only stare blankly at the person. He was broken out of his reverie when the boy began to talk again. "That is what I am here to do. To die. Nothing more," The boy looked down at the unopened parcel of meat in his hands. Kiba could see that he wanted to eat very much. However, he was refrianing from it as best as he could.

Kiba got another look at the kid and saw that he was extremely malnurished. He was litterally nothing but skin and bones. Kiba wondered when the last time he had eaten was, if he even remembered eating.

"Ten days, three hours, thirteen minutes," The boy replied to the unspoken thought in Kiba's mind. This caused Kiba to raise an eyebrow. _Did this kid read my mind? Or was he anticipating the question?_Kiba thought he could see a flash of intelligence behind the boy's eyes, but he wasn't sure. "Yes, I can, Inuzuka Kiba." The boys stared at Apollyn and the Girl tried not to stare at him with her face red from embarrassment. Kiba's mouth dropped open before he closed it and began to think loudly.

_So, you can read my mind. Can you read anyone elses? Or were you simply guessing? Well, then again, if you could read that question, you can see how pointless it is._

"No... I hear... not read... Reading requires sight..." Apollyn explained slowly, the way one would epxlain a difficult probelm to a child.

"I guess I get it now. If you want, we can give you some food," Kiba stated, _But you'll have to come over to the fire first_. The thought that accompanied this made Apollyn feel like he was making a bargain. A chance for survival and all it took was a little trust. He was still wary as he crossed the cave to sit next to Kiba and Kana. Kana glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Apollyn tried to read her mind and found that he couldn't. He needed to fingured out why he wasn't able to. Apollyn stared at Kiba, then at Akamaru and remembered them speaking earlier. It seemed that they had a type of connection that spans between minds. He would need to figure it out later though.

Kiba glanced from one student to the next. Here they were, sitting around a fire in a cave with someone they don't know. To top it off, the boy was naked under the blanket which caused the girl of the group to blush every time she looked at him. Kiba needed to give him some clothes, but he didn't know whose clothes would fit. Finally he got an idea and turned to Asuma, the tallest of the genin.

"Asuma, can you give Apollyn a set of clothes until we reach the next town with a shopping district?" Kiba asked his student. He knew he could have ordered his student to do it, but it was his student's clothes. Having figured out tha tthe boy would need clothes sooner than Kiba said so, Asuma handed Apollyn a set of clothes that he had gotten out before. Apollyn looked from the clothes to Asuma and back, wondering what the catch was.

"Just take them. You need to cover up before Kana's head explodes," Asuma stated as he laid back next to the fire. Akamaru got up and walked in front of the cave entrance to help protect against the cold. Apollyn nodded to Asuma, unable to hear his thoughts. He dropped the blanket and stood up to put the clothes on. Kiba looked away from Akamaru to Apollyn and began to choke on his air. Asuma began to laugh as did Katou. Kana glanced over at Apollyn to find that he dropped the blanket. She yelped again and fainted right away. Apollyn watched all of their reactions with no interest as he quickly put on the clothes. They were civilian clothes, a simple blue shirt and cargo pants. He yawned as he finished putting them on and noticed tha tthe sun had gone down outside. He sat down and fell asleep sitting cross-legged. He was too use dto just falling asleep when the sun had gone down. He heard Kiba's thoughts about keeping watch for a while, but decided not to say anything else as he drifted off into a deeper sleep. One that protected him from the thoughts of evil that lurked outside his mind in the shadows.

* * *

The sun came up not too long after the snow storm abated. Kiba walked outside, wondering what he would do about Apollyn. When he woke up, the boy was still sleeping next to a roaring fire, courtesy of Kana. Apollyn had amazed Kiba with his skill to survive so long in the freezing world and with his mind powers. He was hoping that Apollyn would agree to come back to Konoha with them and meet the others. It would amaze Kiba if Apollyn would even trust them enough. He heard a noise behind him and stepped tot he side as Apollyn came out of the cave wearing only the cargo pants and blue shirt. He had no socks or shoes, but that didn't stop him.

"Apollyn, woul-" Kiba was stopped as Apollyn began to speak in the middle of his speech.

"Yes, I will come back to Konoha with you, Kiba." His voice held no emotion, yet also relfected the gratitude that Apollyn felt toward Kiba and the rest for how they had treated him. He was surprised to find such acceptance from simple strangers.

"Good. I know a few people, including the Hokage that would welcome you with open arms," Kiba said, glancing at the boy. He looked to be about twelve, yet he was so underfed that he looked almost like a wax fake.

"Welcome me with open arms?" The boy was clearly confused. With all of his shown intelligence, he still was not used to the concept of acceptance. Therefore, he didn't even know of the other ways one says to accept.

"Yeah, it means that they'll like ya. Well, they should at least, 'cause you're not a bad kid," Kiba said, looking around the new terrain. He heard a noise behind him and saw Kana walking out to them. She glanced at the back of Apollyn's head before looking to Kiba. Kiba winked at her and that caused her face to grow red again. She was a rather timid girl when it came to strangers. It took her a while to fully open up to her own team.

"Sensei? When are we going to get to the village?" She asked Kiba. He sighed as he glanced around as where they were. They needed to head south in order get to Hyozandu village. They were probably a few miles away still. That was when he noticed the tracks leading toward hte village. Apollyn glanced at him, his eyes oddly full of knowledge. He knew what was there that night. Or rather, who.

"We need to get moving. There's no time to lose. The storm might come abck and then we'd be stuck in a wintery hell," Kiba stated a little dramatically. Kana giggled as Kiba spouted on about hell freezing over. Asuma and Katou joined them, packs in hand. Asuma handed Kana her pack while Akamaru carried Kiba's pack in his mouth. Kiba stopped ranting about winter and took his pack from Akamaru. "Alrigth then, let's get going. We need to head to the village before dark hits."

"Yes, Kiba-Sensei!" The three genin affirmed at once. Apollyn looked at each one with empty calculating eyes. He needed to find out their strengths and weaknesses quickly, before they found out how to attack him. The three genin, Kiba, and Apollyn took off toward the south. In that direction was the village and danger. Apollyn was prepared, but he didn't know who else was. The tracks in the snow were quickly covered up by travelling snowdrifts so none of the genin could see them. Only Kiba and Apollyn knew what lay in store for them.

* * *

"So, they're almost to our location?" A masked ninja said to the man next to him. The other man also wore a mask, but both of their headbands were blank. They were the elite ninja squad of Kagegakure. One man had an axe resting next to him on the snowy ground, the other pulled a kunai out of his pouch.

"Yeah, four guys and one girl. The girl looked cute. You, but cute. Can I have her before I kill her?" The man asked the question in a low hissing whisper. It was needless to say, but the first man despised this other one. To play with the prey like a toy, then to kill her was adding insult to injury. Unfortunately, half the time the man got done, he didn't feel like killing the prey and probably has many bastard children by now.

"No, we kill them, then leave. No playing around with the girl. Little girls don't deserve that." The man sounded disgusted. The second one began to question the first one's sexuality when the alrms in the area when off. They were silent, but tied to him using chakra.

"Looks like they're here! Please can I toy with her?" The man asked the first one. The first one sighed, it was going to be a difficult battle if he had to keep his partner under control.

"Fine, but no longer than you have to and remember to kill her this time. Also, kill the others before you get her!" He said the last part as a reminder. It wouldn't be the first time that his partner had forgotten his warning.

"Sure sure, now let's get started. I can't wait!"

* * *

Kiba instinctively knew what was coming toward them. Apollyn knew as well. Their guard was up, yet the rest of the genin were oblivious tot he fact that they were under attack. That was until a kunai with an explosive tag hit Kiba and blew him to dust. Apollyn's eyes widened, but before he realized what was going on, two ninja had engaged Asuma and Katou. Not wanting to die, Apollyn began to back away. He had seen fights before and had been beaten himself, but this was the first time he had seen people who were actually nice to him getting attacked. He no longer felt safe with any of them and continued to back up.

Kana ran to Katou's aid as he was kicked in the stomach and dropped to the ground. The ninja who was attacking him turned to her and what she saw in his eyes made her scream in fright. The man had death in his eyes, but before he killed, he would toy with her. She tried to pull out a kunai, but was kicked hard in the stomach and sent to the ground. She quickly went through some handseals and blew fire at the enemy nin. The Ninja barely dodged the flames and they ended up burning the man who was fighting Asuma. That man screamed an incoherent insult at the other one before attacking Asuma again. Kana scrambled to get away, but the enemy nin caught her. Before he could do anything to her, he was suddenly hit with a force so tremendous that it caused him to fly nearly five meters and skid six.

Asuma and Akamaru quickly counter attacked the nin fighting them and watched as the one holding Kana was blown nearly eleven meters by a gray shockwave. He looked over at Apollyn who held his hand out. What shocked Asuma the most was that Apollyn's hand and eyes glowed a grayish-blue. His face was blank and not betraying any emotion, but the fact that he had just saved Kana some emotional scarring was impressive. Asuma resumed the battle with the other nin who was just as shocked as he was. The nin threw a kunai at him, but Asuma deflected these with ease and finished a handseal, catching the enemy nin in his shadow. Asuma had one kunai in his hand while the enemy had nothing in his hand. When Asuma threw his kunai, it made a dull thud int he enemy nin where it hit his throat causing massive bleeding and shortly death. Asuma retreated his shadow and watched the fight between Kana, Apollyn and the other enemy ninja.

Apollyn shot another shockwave at the enemy nin and caused snow to engulf him. The enemy picked up his axe and threw it at Apollyn. The axe spun quickly as it flew through the air toward him. APollyn held his hand up again and concentrated. Another shockwave escaped and the axe diverted its course and flew straight back to the enemy nin. To say the enemy was surprised would be an understatement. The axe flew toward him, then past him. The enemy nin sighed in relief before his head fell to the ground. Half a second later, his body followed. Apollyn stared with a blank face and eyes that couldn't care less as the man's body bled out into the snow.

* * *

Kiba watched with mixed feelings as the genin and Apollyn dealt with the enemy ninja. He couldn't believe that his genein had gotten so strong, nor could he believe that the new kid was even stronger. He went down to meet his team. Kana had helped Katou to his feet and Asuma was standing by Akamaru. Kiba sighed again, that was becoming a habit with these genin. He approached them slowly, noticing Apollyn's eyes narrow dangerously. Only when Kiba showed hismelf did Apollyn look away and check on the dead men.

"You four did fantastic. To be able to defeat two elite ninja without taking any major injuries is a feat not even I could pull off when I was your age," Kiba told them, meaning it to be a compliment. Instead he only got glares from his three genin and an impassive look from Apollyn. Kiba shrugged and went over to Akamaru. "You did amazing buddy and nice work with working together with Asuma."

Kana glared harder at Kiba. Something horrible almost happened to her and Kiba-sensei had just sat back and watched it happen. On that note, she walked over to Apollyn while he was still staring at the dead ninja that he had killed. She looked form the ninja to Apollyn and noticed that his features didn't change. It was almost as it he didn't have any emotions at all. Kana vowed to herself to help him shange when they got back to Konoha. _Why not start now?_She thought. She quickly gave Apollyn a kiss on the cheek and murmured a thank you to him. This caused him to flinch and start to backa way from her. _Guess he still doesn't trust people. I guess one night of being nice wont change a lifetime of pain._

Apollyn had no idea what had happened. The girl in the group had walked up to him and pressed her face against his cheek. He had no idea what it was supposed to be, but he guess it was a thank you of sorts from her words. She was thanking him for protecting her when he shouldn't have been thanked. After all, he was just a demon, right?

Katou watched Apollyn and Kana with evident jealousy on his mind. His face was scruntched up in a scowl and he looked like he was about to pass some bad gas. Only he knew that he was head over heels for Kana, but sometimes he wondered if she knew and did things just to torment him. If that's the case, then she was succeeding. He was tormented alright. He sighed a heavy sigh as he realized that his chances with Kana just went down. He didn't care anymore though because no matter what, he would still love her. She smiled at the thought as he stood up and walked over to Kiba.

Asuma was thoughtful as he watched everything going on. He was aware that Katou loved Kana, but he was also aware of where Kana's affections were starting to lie. He wondered if this would mess of the teamwork that Kiba-sensei had said that they needed to work on. On second thought, he knew that this would mess up the teamwork. He walked over to Kiba-sensei and pet Akamaru. He felt a connection with the dog, ever since he had know the mutt from when he was a kid. Akamaru was one of the constants in his life. He lived with his mother, Kurenai, and had taken her maiden name. He felt like he wasn't worthy for his father's name just yet. He was well aware that he came from a distinguished family, but he still didn't feel good about it.

Akamaru had been Kiba's partner for a long time. In that time, Kiba and Shikamaru became best friends. Their whole group did, in fact. Shikamaru took in Asuma to train as a promise to his namesake. Akamaru had helped by being there when Asuma was a baby and a young child. Asuma felt like he wasn't only Kurenai's son, but the son of the Konoha eleven.

Kiba watched with intensity as the teamwork between the genin began to slowly fall apart because of Katou's love. He was going to start drifting away unless they managed to reel him in. Too bad it all had to come at the expense of Apollyn. Kiba sighed yet again, he had to tell Shikamaru to stop rubbing off on him. It was time to get going, they had to reach the village before nightfall.

"Come on guys, let's get going now," Kiba urged as he started to walk in the direction of the village. The others slowly followed with Apollyn and Katou bringing up the rear. Katou glanced at Apollyn and noticed that the guy was wearing barely any clothing, yet didn't look cold at all. His eyes widened as he realized what Apollyn had said in the cave. There was no way anyone could have been out there for as long as Apollyn and not die by freezing to death. It just looked like Apollyn was on the verge of starvation instead of freezing. That was until they got him some food. Katou was brought out of his thoughts by Kiba-sensei. "I can see the village. Last one there pays for food!"

Kiba began to laugh as his genin began to run again, only to fall into the snow. The only one who wasn't running was Apollyn who simply walked past them without sparing a glance at the genin. Kiba and Akamaru began to run to the village, Apollyn was walking to the village and the three genin were crawling to the village.

* * *

Hyozandu village was a small village nestled in the valley of two foothills. It was in the northern part of the Waterfall country. It was barely large enough for a shopping district, but it did have one. The inn was next door to a restaurant for convenience The village was rather sleepy and barely anyone was outside. Only children seemed to walk the streets, playing in the snow. The wind howled through the houses and buildings as it brought the second half of the storm.

Kiba, the genin and Apollyn arrived at the village in roughly the same shape as they were brought to the cave. Kana was completely worn out. Asuma was gasping for breath. Katou was glaring at Kiba, Apollyn and anything that moved under the sun. That is, except for Kana. Kiba was grinning as they had made it that far. He fished out his wallet and gave Asuma a handful of bills, telling him to find an inn, then find some food. At the mention of food, Apollyn looked around. Kana giggled at this and Katou directed his pent-up rage toward the boy. Sensing hostility, Akamaru knocked Katou over and proceeded to sit on him.

"Well, at least one of our senseis knows how to keep you under control," Asuma stated before Kiba nodded and walked off. It was Kiba's task to find the client to escort back to the village. Due to some misinformation, they had gotten off the track by a full day. That was also the last time Kiba needed before teaching his students how to gather the correct information. Needless to say, they finally got to the village and it was up to them now to find the best and cheapest inn and the best and cheapest food. Kiba gave them only so much to work with.

"Alright! Time to find someplace to crash for the night!" Katou pumped his fist into the air and he crawled out from under Akamaru. The dog got up and walked around sniffing things. He ran off, leaving the four children alone.

"Um... Where's Akamaru going?" Kana asked as she spotted the dog trotting to a snow covered tree. The dog proceeded to mark the tree, causing Kana to exclaim how gross it was. Apollyn looked at the top of the tree and pointed his hand to it, shooting a shockwave toward the top and causing snow to fall onto Akamaru. The three genin started to laugh as Akamaru dug himself out and trotted back to him. His face was full of hurt and anger, if that was even possible.

"I apologize... However, you need to watch after them..." Without saying anything else, Apollyn began to walk toward the center of town. The other three children and the dog followed as they reached a four way cross. Looking around, Kana noticed a sign that said in big letters 'INN'. The others followed her gaze and found that next door to it was a restaurant. Apollyn's stomach growled and as if on cue, the other's began to feel their stomach growl too.

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After the dinner they had, they went to the inn for rest and to wait for Kiba-sensei. They only had enough money for one room, however, so one of the beds automatically went to Kana. AKamaru took the spot by the door while Katou and Asuma fought over the last bed. Apollyn stood staring out the window as the sky darkened to the black of night. The storm had started up again and they were thankful that they managed to find someplace warm to bunk for the night. Kana watched the two boys fight over the other bed for a while before staring at Apollyn. She was trying to figure out his thoughts. He seemed to be thinking alot, but she didn't know what his thoughts were, exactly. She wanted to know more about him, and possibly get closer to him and then... She pushed her hands to her face to hide her blush. She was getting for too ahead of herself.

Apollyn was staring out the window, deep in thought. In two short days, these people had found him in a cave, offered him gifts, talked to him like he was a human and then invited him back home. If he cared anything for his life, then he would have doubted their sincerity, however, he does not care for himself. If these people wanted to kill him, then he would let them. He remembered what the mn who was with that woman said. He was a demon. Therefore he did not deserve life. His life would bring death to others, just like the man he had killed earlier. Just like the other one to be born from that woman. He silently cursed the woman as he turned toward the others. Asuma and Katou were fighting over the bed. Kana was staring at him with a red face, no doubt thinking thoughts that would make even Akamaru blush. The dog, Akamaru, was by the door, protecting them from any intruders.

The door knob turned slowly and the door began to open. Asuma and Katou were too busy with their squabble to notice, but Kana and Apollyn were ready. Kana had a Kunai out and Apollyn brought his hand out in front of him. The door swung open all the way and Kiba jumped into the room, yelling in a loud voice. Akamaru snorted and laid down by the door again while Asuma, Katou and Kana screamed in terror. Apollyn shot a small shockwave from his hand and knocked Kiba onto his butt causing Katou to laugh. Kiba glared at Apollyn, who to his surprise, was grinning the tiniest grin. Kiba stood up and began to relay information.

"Alright troops, now here's what's going to happen. The client will be here at noon tomorrow. We will all then eat lunch next door, then proceed out of the village and back to Konoha. It should take us at least three days, so get used to spending a lot of time cramped up together. As for the sleeping arrangements, I will sleep ont he floor next to the door with Akamaru. Asuma gets to sleep in the bed by the door with Katou and Apollyn gets to sleep in the bed by Kana. Now I don't want to hear protests. You all know perfectly well why we are sleeping like this. You two boys are a threat to a young girl's safety," Kiba said, grinning at Asuma and Katou and they both grew red. Apollyn glanced at Kana to see that she was ten times worse than the other two.

"Alright, time for bed, tomorrow we go on a trip!" With that, Kiba fell asleep instantly on the floor with Akamaru curled up by his side. Katou glared at Apollyn until he fell asleep as well with his back to Asuma's back. Apollyn climbed under the covers and slept with his back to Kana who was incredibly red as she turned to face her back toward him. She was silently hoping that he would turn around and hug her, but it was too much to ask for. She fell asleep with those kinds of thoughts on her mind.

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Far away, in a distant land, a voice cried out in the darkness. It was the voice of a child, no more than twelve as he sought the light that had eluded him for so long. He cried out the name of his brother who had been taken from the darkness early on and been fed the light. He cried out the name of Taizou.

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**There you have it, the beginning to my story. I'm only going to do an author's note once. I wrote this story because I suddenly felt like it. If anyone have any suggestions, then tell me. Later on in the story, there will be pairings, as you can kind of guess. Other than that, if you want to chat, send he PMs and I'll get back to you.**


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